Last week, I saw Expelled, the new movie from Ben Stein. It has stirred up a mostly negative response from all sides. Here are a couple of quotes from recent reviews:
Kenneth R. Miller, a biology professor at Brown University, was particularly harsh in his Op-Ed piece in the Boston Globe:
“Expelled is a shoddy piece of propaganda that props up the failures of Intelligent Design by playing the victim card. It deceives its audiences, slanders the scientific community, and contributes mightily to a climate of hostility to science itself. Stein is doing nothing less than helping turn a generation of American youth away from science.”
The review in Christianity Today recognized the limits of what the film tried to accomplish:
“The film succeeds in making the point that Intelligent Design should at least be on the table for discussion. But if you’re looking for ammunition to argue your Darwinist friends under the table, you may want to look elsewhere.”
I’ll put together my own review in the next few days and let you know if I agree with the comments above. In the meantime, you can see what some are saying by Googling “Expelled reviews.”
Maybe Stein’s execution of Expelled wasn’t flawless. Maybe there are a few holes, a few undeveloped ideas, a slip up here, an overstatement there. But flaws notwithstanding, I’m glad to see someone, anyone, taking it to the community of those who mock Intelligent Design. I’m glad to see someone going to great lengths to even put Richard Dawkins in his place (which Stein did brilliantly). I’m glad that a light (even a shaky little light) has been shined on this issue.